I like what the Browns are putting together. They’ve got the right quarterback, they’ve got some talent around him, and now it looks like they’re putting together an intriguing coaching staff.
Freddie Kitchens comes from off the radar. He was a running backs coach at the start of last year. But he performed well enough as an offensive coordinator (after the team fired Hue Jackson and Todd Haley) that he makes sense as their new head coach.
The Browns went 2-5-1 under Jackson-Haley. They went 5-3 in the second half of the season, with Baker Mayfield looking like he might be a top-10 quarterback sooner rather than later. He passed for 376 yards and 3 TDs in a Week 17 game at Baltimore, against one of the best defenses in the league.
Kitchens as limited experience calling plays, but he was great in his eight-game test run last year, and he won’t have to do it all on his own. The Browns have hired Todd Monken to serve as their new offensive coordinator. Formerly with Tampa Bay, Monken is seen as an up-and-coming offensive innovator – a guy who may ascend to a head-coaching job in the future. Kitchens, however, says he intends to call the plays in 2019.
Mostly, this move is about developing Mayfield. On that front, the Browns didn’t really have a choice other than to hire Kitchens. He’s already had considerable success with Mayfield, so it would have been ridiculous to tear up everything and hand the reins to somebody new.
Mayfield completed only 58 percent of his passes in the first half of last season, with 8 TDs and 6 interceptions.
After Kitchens took over, Mayfield completed 68 percent of his passes, with a 19-8 ratio of touchdowns to interceptions. And just 5 sacks in those eight games (after 20 sacks in five starts previously). Haley is an experienced, credible offensive mind, but Kitchens simply had a much better idea of how to use Mayfield.
For fantasy purposes, the Browns in the second half of the season put up the 3rd-best passing numbers in the league. That’s using standard fantasy scoring (4 for TD passes, 1 for every 20 yards). In the second half of the season, only Patrick Mahomes threw more touchdown passes than Mayfield.
| PASSING PRODUCTION, LAST 8 GAMES | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Pct | Yards | TD | Int | F Pts |
| Kansas City | 66.4% | 325.0 | 24 | 6 | 226.0 |
| Pittsburgh | 68.6% | 324.0 | 19 | 10 | 205.6 |
| Cleveland | 68.2% | 291.0 | 19 | 9 | 192.4 |
| Indianapolis | 68.8% | 301.0 | 16 | 7 | 184.4 |
| Atlanta | 68.0% | 280.5 | 17 | 4 | 180.2 |
| LA Rams | 62.6% | 286.6 | 15 | 7 | 174.7 |
| Philadelphia | 71.5% | 283.8 | 15 | 8 | 173.5 |
| Tampa Bay | 65.1% | 298.0 | 13 | 9 | 171.2 |
| San Francisco | 64.2% | 284.6 | 13 | 10 | 165.9 |
| New England | 64.2% | 275.6 | 13 | 4 | 162.3 |
| Carolina | 66.9% | 270.6 | 13 | 12 | 160.3 |
| Dallas | 71.6% | 278.1 | 12 | 3 | 159.3 |
| LA Chargers | 68.7% | 259.0 | 13 | 9 | 155.6 |
| NY Giants | 62.2% | 246.4 | 14 | 6 | 154.6 |
| Seattle | 65.0% | 207.1 | 17 | 2 | 150.9 |
| New Orleans | 70.0% | 223.0 | 15 | 6 | 149.2 |
| Minnesota | 69.4% | 222.1 | 14 | 6 | 144.9 |
| Houston | 72.5% | 248.6 | 11 | 2 | 143.5 |
| Green Bay | 62.3% | 254.0 | 10 | 2 | 141.6 |
| Chicago | 70.2% | 224.8 | 12 | 7 | 137.9 |
| Oakland | 65.3% | 231.4 | 9 | 2 | 128.6 |
| Buffalo | 54.9% | 209.8 | 10 | 10 | 123.9 |
| Denver | 60.9% | 224.0 | 8 | 5 | 121.6 |
| Tennessee | 69.2% | 208.6 | 9 | 6 | 119.5 |
| Detroit | 63.4% | 214.9 | 8 | 5 | 118.0 |
| NY Jets | 58.8% | 212.4 | 7 | 9 | 113.0 |
| Cincinnati | 57.7% | 178.5 | 10 | 5 | 111.4 |
| Miami | 62.8% | 170.3 | 10 | 5 | 108.1 |
| Arizona | 56.5% | 176.5 | 8 | 8 | 102.6 |
| Washington | 58.3% | 177.5 | 7 | 12 | 99.0 |
| Baltimore | 58.6% | 172.1 | 5 | 3 | 88.9 |
| Jacksonville | 61.6% | 156.8 | 4 | 4 | 78.7 |
Before the switch to Kitchens, the Browns were putting up bottom-10 passing numbers.
| PASSING PRODUCTION, FIRST 8 GAMES | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Pct | Yards | TD | Int | F Pts |
| Tampa Bay | 65.5% | 371.8 | 23 | 17 | 240.7 |
| Kansas City | 65.6% | 315.8 | 26 | 6 | 230.3 |
| Atlanta | 70.8% | 338.1 | 19 | 3 | 211.3 |
| Indianapolis | 65.6% | 273.4 | 23 | 8 | 201.4 |
| Pittsburgh | 64.6% | 322.8 | 16 | 7 | 193.1 |
| New Orleans | 76.2% | 298.8 | 18 | 1 | 191.5 |
| Minnesota | 70.7% | 315.1 | 16 | 4 | 190.1 |
| Green Bay | 60.3% | 324.6 | 15 | 2 | 189.9 |
| LA Rams | 67.5% | 304.6 | 17 | 5 | 189.9 |
| LA Chargers | 67.2% | 280.5 | 19 | 3 | 188.2 |
| Cincinnati | 63.9% | 267.6 | 17 | 8 | 175.1 |
| New England | 67.5% | 275.0 | 16 | 7 | 174.0 |
| Houston | 64.1% | 272.0 | 15 | 7 | 168.8 |
| Philadelphia | 69.5% | 281.8 | 14 | 3 | 168.7 |
| Baltimore | 60.9% | 291.4 | 13 | 6 | 168.6 |
| Detroit | 67.1% | 265.6 | 14 | 7 | 162.3 |
| Seattle | 66.1% | 223.9 | 18 | 5 | 161.6 |
| Chicago | 64.2% | 243.6 | 16 | 7 | 161.5 |
| Miami | 65.3% | 243.4 | 16 | 8 | 161.4 |
| NY Giants | 68.4% | 304.3 | 9 | 6 | 157.7 |
| Carolina | 67.4% | 238.3 | 15 | 4 | 155.3 |
| Jacksonville | 61.3% | 272.1 | 11 | 9 | 152.9 |
| Denver | 64.0% | 267.3 | 11 | 10 | 150.9 |
| San Francisco | 60.1% | 246.3 | 13 | 10 | 150.5 |
| Oakland | 71.9% | 275.8 | 10 | 8 | 150.3 |
| Cleveland | 55.7% | 241.6 | 10 | 8 | 136.7 |
| Washington | 63.5% | 233.4 | 9 | 3 | 129.4 |
| NY Jets | 55.2% | 213.1 | 11 | 10 | 129.3 |
| Dallas | 62.6% | 207.5 | 10 | 5 | 123.0 |
| Tennessee | 65.0% | 198.3 | 7 | 6 | 107.3 |
| Arizona | 57.8% | 184.0 | 7 | 10 | 101.6 |
| Buffalo | 53.7% | 175.5 | 3 | 13 | 82.2 |
With the improved passing production, Cleveland averaged 2 more points per game in the second half of the season.
Rushing production decreased under Kitchens. They averaged 109 rushing yards in the second half of the season, averaging 4 fewer running plays per game. But they averaged 4.6 yards per carry (same as in the first eight games).
This looks like a team on the rise in the AFC North.
—Ian Allan